The SOM project created utility by using sensors in an Internet of Things (IoT) and the basis of course was that there was a stable network of different IoT technologies supporting the solutions. In the SOM project in Lund, the same test bed was used to create technical solutions for all the projects, allowing solutions and experiences to be reused.

Sub-project manager was Johan Lindén at Mobile Heights.

“Our platform uses many different technologies to connect sensors over different networks,” he said. At the top there is an open data platform on which to add services. The technical solution you choose is determined by the desired benefit.

In spring 2017, three base stations for an open city-wide LoRa wireless network were installed in Lund. Lund's network was open and free to use for anyone who was in a pre-commercial stage. In some sub-projects Malmö participated as well as they set up gateways for LoRa. Also in Veberöd, a community in the eastern part of Lund municipality, a LoRa network was installed within the project. In autumn 2019, the energy company Kraftringen, owned by the municipalities of Lund, Eslöv, Hörby and Lomma, took over the sensor network in Lund, and also opened to more technologies than LoRa. The network was built on with additional base stations so that it now covers most of Lund and the surrounding area but is still free to use at a pre-commercial stage so that students, interested individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can more easily participate in the development of the Internet of Things.

Over the years, Future By Lund has tested the LoRa technology in a number of sub-projects within SOM. Out of this came a high-profile mission — the newly planted tree in the Katedralskolan schoolyard was fitted with moisture sensors in the root system to ensure that the tree receives the right amount of water. This was one of the first connections after Kraftringen took over the network.

“It's great fun that we can now combine an open test network with a commercially driven network, this will benefit all actors in Lund who work on testing and developing IoT services and products,” says Anders Trana, project manager for the SOM project in an interview from autumn 2019.

Within the project, the LoRa network was also supplemented with Telia's communication technologies NB-IoT and LTE-M. Then the project distributed SIM cards from Telia to those who wanted to try these.

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In the SOM project, a Bluetooth mesh network was used to send signals via NB-IoT to monitor the Power Ring cable cabinet in the Critical Infrastructure project. A mesh network consists of a group of devices that together form a network. If a device disappears, the signal can make its way through other routes in the network. The actors Kraftringen, Vinnergi, Sensative, MiThings, Mobile Heights, u-blox, Device radio and Future by Lund participated in the process of taking metrics from the sensors into readable data. Project partner u-blox connected sensors in a mesh network in his office to test the technology. The office nodes and sensor data were visualized via a dashboard.

Metrics in the project are then forwarded using Narrowband IoT to Sensative's platform Yggio. Through Yggio, the user gained access to a marketplace and a control panel for the services that they wanted to link to their data.

Yggio has been created by the Lunda company Sensative, which has an active role in the project.

“We in the SOM project are doing something that I want to say is unique in the world — we run a living lab for IoT in a very collaborative way,” says Mats Pettersson, CEO of Sensative, in an interview from the end of 2019. Everyone is welcome to try out the network. We started with 4-5 players and are now about 30 parties. Recently we started a collaboration with Lund University to see how we can be part of education. High schools in Lund and Malmö also want to participate. It's like a giant happening, an exciting challenge.

What was the result?

An open test bed was quickly established in the project and then built retrospectively. At the end of the project, there was an openly accessible test bed with a number of different communication technologies and an open data platform. The test bed has also been used extensively outside the SOM project, which was an important goal for it. The strategy of building it modular where new technologies etc. were added as they were requested in the sub-projects and then became part of the open test bed was a very successful venture.

In the test bed, there are many options, which allows you to use the hardware, software and protocol that is best suited for the purpose. “We do not see a solution for everything, but some solutions have more uses than others,” says sub-project manager Johan Lindén. “We also see that there are interesting combinations.”

“It is interesting that our test bed has been created by many different parts and by many different companies that have collaborated to develop a solution,” says Johan Lindén. It means proof that open APIs and data interfaces have worked very well. We have managed a complex solution where there can be up to six companies involved for each solution from sensor to service and it is great that the participants have made this work. It describes the drive and great cooperation of the companies involved.”

“I think that the test bed and the SOM project have changed the mindset so that many are now more open to technical solutions. Now many people understand what the new technology can do,” says Johan Lindén.

How is the project taken forward?

The test bed remains in place and has entered the new project Lund Open Sensing City, where the idea is that it will be developed further in the same spirit as during the SOM project. New data platforms have been added and we are looking at how to complement it with new technologies as they become available. The basic idea is still to keep the testbed open for all actors who want to test IoT in Lund Municipality. The finished testbed makes it easier for future trials and new companies to get started and test.

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Facts subproject Open IoT test bed

Part of SOM II funded by IoT Sweden

Project Time: 2017-09-01 - in progress

Project Manager: Johan Linden, Mobile Heights

Project partners: Kraftringen, MiThings, Telia, Mobile Heights, Sensative, Lund Municipality, DeviceRadio, SONY, Ericsson, Vinnergi, Schneider Electric

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